Despite what many say i feel there is still ways to make money, but every year people breed more snakes and produce better stuff and ball pythons can live for a very long time so supply in demand has and will take affect especially in this hobby. In 2008 i bought a early Mojave female ball python unstarted for 400$. She bred for me in the middle of 2010 and produced a clutch of 6 eggs, one slug, one lesser (died in egg) one mojo 2 normals and a Bel. I lost my job as a vet tech at the time (company went bankrupt) so i had to sell most of my snakes but that one specifically i made a profit on. The Bel i sold for 650$ (female) the mojo 100, and the normals i gave to friends or people who came over to talk about snakes and ask for help. I then was forced to sell her as cause she was my most $$ snake in the collection at the time and got about 1800$ for her. After food, bedding, and rats i still cleared about 2k in profit. Now do i think u could do the same with a mojave female now? no, cause ur payout will be smaller especially in 3 years. Do i think u could buy a banana male for 20k and make a profit in 3 years? yes but who the hell has 20k to spend on a snake? Do ur research on what stuff u like and try to remember the more u spend, the more money u prob will get out of this hobby (risk and reward) and supply in demand. And ask a ton of questions!! There are many med sized breeders who love to just talk about snakes, projects and what not to buy and so on. Just with anything too watch out for the "douche bags" and check the BOI on FC to see who not to buy from, just cause its cheap doesnt mean its a deal (if ur in this hobby long enough someone is going to try and rip u off)